Influencer and collab in our serviced apartment

[wondabar]

We run a few serviced apartments in a town. We have just been approached by an Instagram influencer with around 300K asking for a week's stay in one of our serviced apartments in return for her to mention it in her posts. We would be losing around £700 in letting her stay there. Should we do it? Just wondering if her mentioning it would attract more direct bookings.

For those with behind the scenes insight is it just “small time” influencers who request this free stuff or do those will millions of followers do to? I always got the impression it was the people with less followers wanting the same lifestyle as the big influencers who did this sort of thing,

The bigger influencers will probably have their agents do all the reaching out.

And bigger influencers will be approached by companies, rather than asking for freebies!

I had always figured that the bigger ones would be asked but I just wondered if it was standard for them to ask for freebies too.

No. I actively boycott anything pushed by influencers. It’s my
own personal pedantic stance.

Influencing is not should not be a job. Maybe if we all ignore them, they’ll go away.

I was just going to say the same as @yogasaurus

I am normally put off my businesses that 'gift' influencers.

The whole thing is gross.

I tend to use them to find brands I’ve not heard of, particularly for clothing and home decor, but I then do my own research. I view it like adverts on the TV but I can at least tailor the adverts to people with the same body type or similar taste in decor to me.

@Kingsparkle we've found it's the inexperienced ones that ask for free stuff or expect more than what is stated in the campaign. A lot of the inexperienced ones are inspired by the really big names that get loads of stuff thrown at them for free by multiple companies and think that's the way it works. They are usually shocked to find that companies don't just throw £££ of stock at you and let you pick and choose what you want because you have 50k followers.

The experienced ones know to look for campaigns that relate to their influencer area and don't tend to ask for extra stuff. They might have a smaller following but have a higher quality of work and more engagement with their followers or have carved themselves a niche.

The big names are generally approached or have an agent.

They are another form of advertising and are very popular with younger audiences who are not on Facebook or engage with traditional advertising. Using influencers are not for every company and it completely depends on who your target audience are and what your business is.

This

300k isn't much these days, unless it's a very niche subject.

Thanks @Caffeineislife - that confirms a lot of what I was thinking. The bigger ones tend to be a lot slicker etc with their #ads, I assume from having more experience and for doing it for longer.

No, do society a favour and don't encourage the entitlement.

Why is it gross?

Influencers gain followers by producing content that the followers want to see. It could be anything from knitting tutorials to watercolours to stand up comedy. People choose to subscribe because they like the content.

And then sometimes, companies - not usually very big ones - whose products are aimed at these audiences pay for an advertising spot. What's the problem? How is it different to advertising in a magazine or on a radio station that's full of your target audience?

Perhaps for a couple of days midweek during non peak times it would be worth it. There would have to be a contract regarding posts, post content, photos etc, and you need to lead it, not her. In terms of value for money, yours would probably be better spent on a campaign with a qualified marketing professional, not a grifter. If you want to use a travel influencer, you could do bit of research and find one with a better following, then offer her the week long stay.

IMO It really is up to the company to look carefully at the influencers they use and the vibe they want to create around their product.

There are very much the "look how much free stuff I have", "look at my huge haul" and "buy this because I am the loudest" influencers. They are generally the ones that grate for some people, it's not a style I personally like. Of course, for other people they love it and it obviously really works for some companies.

We find the quieter ones work for us, the ones whose pages are a passion, whether it is crafting, animals, training, education, travel, food and drink. It is a passion for them and their followers watch and engage with them because they enjoy the passion. Often it's a side hussle, they have a main job but enjoy sharing their passion and not as a huge money spinner.

@DrSbaitso I find most influencers to be very sneaky when it comes to declaring ads/gifts/aff links/paid partnerships or how ever they want to word it.

I don't think a lot of people realise that they are being advertised to by their favourite influencers, and blindly follow their 'advice' regardless of what the influencer saying being complete horse shit.

In short, I don't think it's policed properly, and the majority of influencers are exploitive vermin.

That being said, I do see the difference in what I've said and someone with a large social media presence doing a proper, clear, actual work put in to it advert. Some people with a large following are very good at doing it correctly.

@aperolspritzbasicbitch - it irritates me that I can’t report to Instagram when something is very obviously an undeclared advert. Not that they would do anything anyway but it’s irritating there is no way to hold people accountable for that.

Alternatively, say you'll give them £100 discount for every person who books using the code they include on their post. So they pay up front for the week stay. Once followers have made bookings using the influencer's code you let them know and once that person has stayed and paid their bill you refund £100 to the influencer.

This is similar to what we’ve done a couple of times with MIL’s holiday home.

Most of the time the influencers disappear never to be heard from again.

Two went with it. One got a couple of hundred quid back. The other did attract a lot of bookings so got their whole amount back, but that was when everyone was staying in the UK for holidays so I think timing has played a big part in that as well.

Don’t do it!!

0.53% engagement??? So out of 300k followers they only get 1600ish likes/comments per post? Is that what that means?!
Boy oh boy those followers are paid for !!

I can guarantee you are not the only accommodation she has contacted in your local area begging for a freebie. Keep an eye on her page to see if anyone is taken in by her.

She's not working for free! She's asking for a free stay...